# Unable to import STEP
**URL:** https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/unable-to-import-step/2862
**Category:** Modeling Questions
**Created:** [September 4, 2018, 8:03am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/unable-to-import-step/2862 "2018-09-04T08:03:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@demogiant](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/demogiant)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2018, 8:03am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/unable-to-import-step/2862/1 "2018-09-04T08:03:42Z")
I have a STEP file that I airdropped from my MBP to my iPad into files folder. However, as I tried to import the STEP file it took a very long load time and after I waited for a long time eventually unable to load it into the workspace.
This is the sharable link of my STEP file:
[https://drive.google.com/open?id=1twaBYp2M1IIlTnAlV1\_By-Ljd9O58OWx](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1twaBYp2M1IIlTnAlV1_By-Ljd9O58OWx)
The STEP file is translated from STL using the below method.
[https://grabcad.com/tutorials/how-to-convert-stl-to-step-using-freecad](https://grabcad.com/tutorials/how-to-convert-stl-to-step-using-freecad)
Grateful for any support regarding the above. Thank you.
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### Author:  [@Aron\_Shapr3D](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/u/Aron_Shapr3D)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2018, 9:02am UTC](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/unable-to-import-step/2862/2 "2018-09-04T09:02:12Z")
Hi @demogiant I looked at the file you sent. I see that you converted this file to STEP from STL. The thing is there are fundamental problems with this approach. The STEP file format describes the exact parametric mathematical representation of objects that all CAD systems use (e.g. a spherical body is a mathematical sphere, a plane is mathematical plane, etc…), as does Shapr3d. The STL file format in contrast is a simple mesh format consisting of simple triangles. When you convert from STL to STEP what happens is the conversion software simply creates a planar face for every triangle in the STL file. The problem with this is that there can easily be thousands or hundreds of thousands of triangles in an STL file. This when converted to STEP is just too much individual faces to be handled by Shapr. Even if you could open it you couldn’t do much with it, it wouldn’t behave the way you probably expect.
BTW I was able to open the file on my 2016 9.7" iPad Pro, here’s a screenshot (it took a while):
I added the sphere to illustrate the difference between a mesh (the snowman) and a sphere as understood by CAD systems. Istvan has a forum post that touches on the same stuff I’m on about, take a look: [https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/file-conversion/582/7?u=aron\_shapr3d](https://discourse.shapr3d.com/t/file-conversion/582/7?u=aron_shapr3d)
Hope this helps!